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Asking prices for houses with five or more bedrooms have hit a record $1.03m, a near-19 per cent jump in the last year, according to Trade Me's latest figures.The results agree with Real Estate Institute data this week showing sales of $1m-plus homes rose 27 per cent in the year to March.
"Seeing a housing segment jump past the million dollar mark is an indication of just how strong our property market is at the moment," Trade Me's head of property Nigel Jeffries said.
Trade Me, which monitors what vendors are asking for houses on its website as opposed to the actual sale price, said large houses were one of the strongest housing segments in recent months.
In Auckland, where one in three houses are estimated to be selling for more than a million dollars, vendors of large houses were now looking for an average of $1,293,600, a 21 per cent jump in the last year.
About 10 per cent of all properties sold were large houses, and Jeffries said that their asking prices had risen more than 50 per cent over the past five years.
Overall average asking prices across the country in March rose 4 per cent on February, and 11.4 per cent for the year, which Jeffries said was "a significant reversal of the slowdown we've seen recently.
House sellers were seeking $439,650 on average, a $25,000 or 6.4 per cent jump in the last 12 months.
Auckland sellers were asking on average $834,500, 16.5 per cent more than the same month last year.
"That 12-month increase represents a massive increase of $118,500, equating to around $10,000 per month in potential capital appreciation," Jeffries said.
The Bay of Plenty was now the second most expensive housing market after Auckland, with vendors now looking for an average of $517,300, up 14.4 per cent on last March.
The Waikato was almost as strong, with price tags for the average house jumping $50,000 or 14.3 per cent in the last year, to a record $436,650. Jeffries said prices had leapt 12 per cent in the last six months.
Other regions experiencing strong growth included the Hawkes Bay (up 18.6 per cent), Nelson/Tasman (up 7.2 per cent), Wellington (up 6.6 per cent) and Southland (6 per cent). Canterbury came in at 4.1 per cent, and Taranaki and Gisborne were the only regions experiencing declines.
Meanwhile, the chief executive of the Property Institute, Ashley Church, is urging the Reserve Bank to think carefully before contemplating steps to cool the Auckland property market in the light of Auckland's strong sales.
Church said fundamentals such as shortage of supply were driving the Auckland market and he suggested the central bank "get out of the way".and let the market take its course.
"No one is questioning the importance of keeping inflation within an acceptable range – but until the supply issue in Auckland is addressed the best that the Reserve Bank can hope to achieve is to act as a periodic irritant to house price inflation. It isn't going to stop it taking place".
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